Football

Keegan

Opurum move a gamble

Football helmets mask faces, which can make it tougher to personalize the players, but if you don’t feel for Kansas University sophomore Toben Opurum right this moment, your cold heart needs to bake in the sun for a while. It might even be time for a transplant.

Put yourself in Opurum’s cleats. A four-star running back from the high school football hot bed of Plano, Texas, Opurum was courted by Notre Dame, which wanted him as a fullback. He instead chose Kansas because then-coach Mark Mangino assured him he would be used as a one back in KU’s spread offense. That’s how Mangino used Opurum, who led the team in rushing, getting so many of the yards on his own by carrying piles.

Then November came. KU athletic director Lew Perkins set in motion a witch hunt that cost Mangino his job and cost the athletic department the $3 million parachute Mangino floated to his new home in Naples, Fla. That would have been well before employees of the Williams Fund and ticket office shafted customers by selling prime seats and shoving the money in their pockets. That scandal broke before the Perkins exercise-equipment mess, which was revealed long before a published report detailed Perkins’ costly travel habits.

Despite all that, searching for humble pie on the menu at Kansas University Athletics, Inc., is as fruitless an endeavor as trying to find Opurum’s name on a Gill depth chart.

(Aside: I stand by my prediction that Perkins will not be in his post when Turner Gill coaches his first game, 15 days from today.)

Anyway, shortly after Mangino started walking the plank, Opurum injured his ankle early in the Texas game and with him out, the Kansas running game never looked the same.

New coach. New position. Opurum practiced as a linebacker Thursday for the first time. Angus Quigley is listed atop the depth chart at running back.

Elsewhere, at Notre Dame, Charlie Weis was fired and replaced by Brian Kelly, who favors a one-back, spread offense. Opurum might be competing to win the job as Notre Dame’s featured running back had he signed with the Fighting Irish.

Opurum’s a winner. He’ll try to block out thoughts of what might have been and make learning a new position his top priority.

Opurum wasn’t available for interview Thursday, but I chatted with him Tuesday and asked him if he had any interest in beefing up the thin linebacking unit.

“They haven’t asked me to,” Opurum said Tuesday. “If they ask me to and think it will help the team, then so be it.”

The ankle didn’t fully heal, Opurum said, until right before summer conditioning started. For the spring, he was mostly a frustrated spectator. The toughest aspect of the spring?

“Probably just seeing everyone get a chance to work every day and realize that being in rehab, you’re not doing anything but getting behind and it’s going to be that much harder to get back to the top, starting that low,” Opurum said. “It’s something I worked through. It wasn’t easy, but I definitely worked my way back up.”

Or so he thought. He learned otherwise Thursday, when he started at the bottom again, this time as a linebacker.

Quigley, one of the team’s five captains, has been there, done that. He’s happy to return to carrying the football.

“I think it may actually be easier for Toben than it was for me,” Quigley said. “I didn’t really pick it up as fast as I wanted to, but I’ve seen Toben, he’s a fast learner. He didn’t look bad today. Toben’s already the right size. I had to work to get to linebacker size.”

The toughest part of the transition?

“The mentality,” Quigley said. “You have to learn to tackle. I’m sure it’s been a long time since he’s made a tackle. I’m sure that’s going to be the hardest part and covering routes instead of running routes. I feel like it’s always easier running a route when you know where you want to go than to cover a route when you have no idea what the guy across from you is going to do.”

Quigley said he talked to Opurum before Thursday’s practice about the switch and said the sophomore “seemed pretty upbeat. He said he’s not going to go over there half-hearted. He said he said he’s going to go over there whole-heartedly and give it a shot.”

Quigley put some vicious hits on ball carriers on special teams, but the transition to defense didn’t go so smoothly.

“That linebacker experience was quite an experience,” he said. “It’s really crazy. It can get frustrating. Really, what I’m going to talk to him about is not getting frustrated. He’s been playing running back and it feels natural to him. I know there were days I was frustrated playing linebacker. You get beat on a route because you tried to guess and it’s not coming natural to you because it’s not what you’re used to doing.”

Quigley, a sixth-year senior, gets the first shot at becoming the featured back, though Gill said a rotation will be in place. Redshirt freshman Deshaun Sands and junior Rell Lewis are listed behind him as co-second-teamers. True freshmen James Sims and Brandon Bourbon, once they learn how to block and pick up the complexities of a college offense, could work their way into the mix.

It’s an interesting gamble, moving Opurum to linebacker, a move more likely to help the team in the future than in 2010.

Keegan, you are calling Mangino's ouster a witch hunt after all the issues that had surfaced. If he wasn't gone, a student might be suing the University because of all the harrassment. I will give you the benefit of doubt as you are entitled to an opinion. But reporting it as witch hunt without a single line on what exactly the allegations were against Mangino is biased journalism at best, and seems like your personal grudge with Lew in all likelihood. GET A LIFE!!

It seemed like an accurate description to me. There were more people saying Mangino didn't do anything improper than those who said he did. Those who said he did things improperly were those who had lost playing time, so there was some question about the veracity of those accusations. With the exception of two tirades that many said were inaccurately reported, Mangino did what every football coach from Pee Wee league on up does to get the kids attention. It was a witch hunt to get rid of Mangino for whatever reason. Accurate statement or not, it probably didn't need to be stated at this point.

It's all water under the bridge and it's time to look forward and not back.

Maybe it was only a matter of time before ethics caught up to Perkins. I think it is time for Perkins to go. It is terrible to have him as an example to future generations of College Athletes. Perkins example is very similar to that of past Tyco, Enron, and MCI executives. I am supportive of Gill but hold nothing against Mangino. Mangino won an Orange Bowl not Perkins.

I don't remember anyone associated with the team saying that Mangino didn't do anything improper, as you say. I do remember Mike Leach saying that. I do remember several players and others, such as Bob Stoops, Kerry Meier, Todd Reesing, Don Fambrough, saying words of support and saying he is a good person. Unless you were there, bradh, you don't have a clue what he did or the extent to which the allegations ran. Not everyone who gets fired is the victim of a witch hunt.

"Mangino did what every football coach from Pee Wee league on up does to get the kids attention. " said like someone who never played football, or maybe did in the 1950s.

Quit putting this all into your narrative of the wussification of America. All you Mark lovers who feel his temper and physical tendencies were just "good ole coach teaching kids to be a men" (some posture he could turn on and off) need to understand that this was not the case. He is a bully with a brutal temper. It is not something he controls. Just ask his wife, or the police that were called to his house on multiple occasions.

While I don't believe Mangino got a completely fair shake, he did bring it on himself. From what I understand, a group of football parents was on the war path. Perkins had no choice but address the issue. If it was a witch hunt, I'm sure it was a witch hunt that Perkins would have preferred to not have to initiate. Once it became public, Perkins had no choice but act. After losing the last 7 games last season, recruiting was already going to suffer. The issue of how players were treated would have just compounded that problem. He could have done what too many past KU AD's have done, and that's waste a couple of more years, and dig a deeper hole for the program. Instead, he made the tough but necessary decision to take action.

Perkins definitely has his share of flaws. I won't attempt to defend his lack of oversight over the ticket area. I also won't attempt to defend the expense issues or the exercise equipment. There's definitely a well deserved sleezy reputation he's gained. My only point is that when it came to the issue of how to deal with Mangino, he made the right decision.

I'm not a Mangino hater either. He was great for the program while he lasted, but he dug his own grave. People need to quit trying to place the blame for what happened on others. He did it to himself with his behavior toward his players.

Turner Gill will be great for this program. I'm confident of that. It's time to look forward, and quit looking backward.

The "witch hunt" was triggered by the three most prominent assistant coaches going to Lew Perkins and saying that they were leaving because working for Mangino was an intolerable situation. Further, the problems went beyond the football program.

It is dumb to talk about Perkins' lack of ethics. He is probably the best AD in the nation, and he has worked his butt off to raise money for KU athletics. Unlike UT KU doesn't have 90,000+ at every football game, so it was necessary to find other streams of revenue.

Also Keegan, change in company ownership, management, bosses and personal responsibilities happens to all of us in real life (including for players in the NFL). But you probbaly won't understand that as you are too busy slandering people.

Wouldn't that be a kick? LJW gets bought out by new management, Tom Keegan gets reassigned to Catwalk coverage whilst, Catwalk coverage gets to do the Football editorials. Things I would expect :

Lew Perkins bashing would cease. Except for Lew's suits.

Keegan would immediately throw a Teachers Aide under the bus for improper sewing techniques and Would write about that Teachers Aide for months.

p>Kusports.com would send back Catwalk beat to Edit Keegan's work after a sufficent time away in the Sports world, and promote Jesse or Matt to be the Headbeat writer.

Toben Opurum will cold clock someone in North Dakota State game so Bad they will find that player somewhere in one of Jaybate's post in the post game. Toben will find it's fun causing people's heads to ring, and will start his journey into the Freak of Nature he will be. Alot of players can play corner and reciever, Toben can play runningback and Linebacker, that's ALOT more impressive. Jaybate will immediately revive the poor fool and send him back to the BANNEDLANDs ( look up the North Dakota Ice Hockey arena... a state of the art Arena that cannot host post season tourney games. It's like building the Sprint center and not using it... Wait..... S*** !!!!!!!! )

Turner Gill will put in a call to Mortenson, Riviera, and Holt. They will all nod in aggreance at the beast they will make.

Meyer will retire because he will then look that much more out of place writing editorial pieces that fragment from Crazy to just poorly written, especially next to the sharp works of Tait and Newell.

Kansas will quietly go 8-4 and stomp the bejesus out of a MAC team in their Bowl Game.

Grown up reading LJW and actually wishing I could read a Chuck Woodling article right now. The story is about Toben's move to LB, but it became Keegan's own witch hunt of the KUAD.
- is the story about Mangino and his coaching? No.
- is the story about Perkins' exercise habits? No.
- the story is about a player switching positions to help the football team

Where was this article last year when Mangino moved Daymond Patterson from WR to defense? Oh, Mangino did that because of too many WR's, but Gill can't do the same thing? C'mon man!!
Keegan - just stick to the elementary teachings of writing an article - the who, what, when, where and why - not an issue that has absolutely nothing to do with the story.
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What an interesting thread of disjointed comments posing as a thought process. I suppose Keegan thought he was supporting Toben Opurum, but then he got off on bashing, Perkins, the entire athletic department, and the ethical considerations surrounding Mangino's leaving. Huh? It's hard to see how all that fits under the headline, "Opurum Move a Gamble". All this without giving Toben any credit for being the quality team player he has the potential to demonstrate. All this without giving current coaches any credit for making what could prove to be a very insightful and positive move all round. All this without mentioning the possibility that it might even be good for Toben Opurum.

Keegan you surely don't qualify as an ethical critic, a capable sports analyst, or an unbiased journalist. Where in the world does this come from? Perhaps your empathy has been over-tweaked by your kindred Mangino.

This cannot be a prediction, but I would be so bold as to speculate that if Lou Perkins were not retirement age, he would be the Kansas A.D. long after Tom Keegan had become a less than mediocre obit writer somewhere it the boot heel of Missouri.

I must say this move completely baffles me. I must assume Coach Gill knows what he is doing. He obviously knows a little about running an offense and what it takes to establish a strong ground attack. However, I really thought Opurum had the chance to really surprise even more people than he did last year.

Opurum's move to linebacker does affect the contest, only if the winner must be determined by tiebreaker. Here's the tiebreaker question:

"Tiebreaker question: How many yards will KU running back Toben Opurum rush for in 2010?

Note: If we have a tie at the end of the 10 questions, the tiebreaker question will be put into effect. The winner will be determined by the answer that is closest to Opurum's rushing yards."

Count me in with the group that did not expect Opurum to play defense. I would have selected a different tiebreaker question, had I known that when I wrote the contest.

Anyways, if the contest requires the tiebreaker question, the winner will (most likely) be the person who guesses the lowest amount of rushing yards. This person will have had the foresight to predict Opurum not factoring into the rushing game as much as his counterparts.

Stuff can still happen, though. What if Quigley gets injured, for instance? I don't know if Sands/Lewis could carry the load themselves.

Didn't see this move coming, and I wish I could have picked a different tiebreaker question. But it's too late to go back and change it now, unfortunately. Hope this helps a bit. Thanks for asking about it.

I would agree that Keegan didn't write anything false in this article, my complaint is that I expected some insight about the LB change. Unfortunately, I got a rehash of Perkins. I did like the insight on the recruiting front from him, and how that wrapped into the thought process of who I thought would be the starting running back.

Forcing a DL to pretend to be a LB, even worse a different one each play, is as close to a recipe for disaster as I can imagine. . .

Opurum has the tools, the smarts, and, I hope, the desire to make this move work for the team. Damned few people can move to LB from another position and be effective out of the chute. If Toben manages it, (and someone has to, given injury situation) this season won't be nearly as embarrassing as the @$$ whuppin's the LB corps took last year.

The more support TO gets, from coaches, from players, from fans, the better the chances of a respectable first year for the new coaching staff. Mark me down as one who wants to see it turn out as a story of noble spirit triumphing over less-than-ideal circumstances.

Tobin just moved up my list of favorite KU players this year. From the sounds of it, I'm more heart broken of the move then he is. That just tells you how unselfish of a player/person he really is. Here's to hoping he can break the starting line up because he obviously has the size, speed, and football IQ ...

This is a good example why four star recruits rarely come to KU. I can't think of the last four star recruit at KU that actually had a decent career. Frankly, I woudn't blame Opurum if he wants a transfer because he didn't sign up to be a linebacker.

Hopefully Toben takes this all in stride. My thoughts are maybe the coaching staff is trying to toughen him up a little, and KU is pretty thin at linebacker while having at least five guys who can play running back this year. This is a huge gamble though. Not only does it jeopardize Opurum's future at KU, it jeopardizes KU's creditability on the recruiting circuit. Seriously, you can't move many guys around to positions they have never expressed any interest in playing before recruits start to notice. I hope this works.

Although I cannot agree with the tone of Keegan's comments regarding MM and Lew, etc (a witch hunt, Tom? Really?), I do appreciate his glowing words about Toben Opurum. Wow! Is this kid impressive or what? What a great attitude. I wish him all the success in the world. Wouldn't it be a great story if he turns out to be a better linebacker than running back? Go Toben!

I can't say this any clearer: This article is absolute crap. I love hearing about Oporum, but the article is poorly written and half of it has nothing to do with Toben.

"Then November came. KU athletic director Lew Perkins set in motion a witch hunt that cost Mangino his job and cost the athletic department the $3 million parachute Mangino floated to his new home in Naples, Fla. That would have been well before employees of the Williams Fund and ticket office shafted customers by selling prime seats and shoving the money in their pockets. That scandal broke before the Perkins exercise-equipment mess, which was revealed long before a published report detailed Perkins’ costly travel habits."

The only part of this entire paragraph that can even remotely be tied to this article is the fact that Perkins ran out Mangino. The rest is simply Keegan's personal vendetta. For everyone defending Keegan saying this is an "opinion" piece, your defense is misplaced. It would be fine to defend an opinion piece if the opinions contained therein had anything at all to do with the subject of the article. Keegan's personal vendetta against Perkins has ZERO to do with Toben, and has no place in this article.

Seriously, how can writers that appear to be as knowledgeable as Sorrentino and Newell stand to work for someone who is as bereft of insight and class as Keegan? Better yet, why does the LJW continue to employ someone as an editor when they clearly have below average writing ability? Simply amazing.

We had, by my count, three healthy high level D-1 caliber linebackers on the roster before Toben was moved to defense. That's not a good thing. Injuries and attrition (grades, etc.) have hit the defense hard.

The two positions that we are the deepest at are RB and WR. We are most thin at LB. If we were thin at DB, don't think MacDougald or others would not have been approached about switching positions.

If Huldon Tharp doesn't go down for the year, this might not have been necessary, but honestly, I knew something was going to happen. I figured maybe Quigley would move (hey, he still might if Bourbon, Sims and Sands can handle the load). But honestly, we need depth and athleticism, especially at LB right now.

Operum is our leading rusher a year ago and now we move him to Lb? Maybe Mangino is still around and we don't know it. I have supported Gill's moves overall the last few months here, but this is such a Mangino move. I hope this works out, but I am saddened because I loved the idea of seeing Operum plow through defenses. My only guess is Bourbon and Sims need to be on the field now because of their talents and Operum doesn't fit in the offense. This better work.

People keep freaking out that Opurum was our "leading rusher" last year. Don't get me wrong cause I love Opurum but being the leading rusher on last year's team isn't saying much. The "leading rusher" ran for less than 600 yards.

Not bad for a freshman, but hardly anything worth getting so distraught about.

I understand what you mean so I will preface by saying he looked really good as a freshman last year and I see so much potential for him to dominate as a runner.

After taking a breather I would hope he adjusts to LB and with his size can eventually be a starter for us. Afterall, both Dudley and Springer are seniors so maybe Toben will end up being a star at LB for us. I can only hope.

TO is NOT a bad RB. His skills have not dimenished at all! But!!!! James is a different style of beast. Quigley may start the season as the featured back.....but I guarantee he wont finish as the featured back.....By years end, this is James Sims team....prophecy baby!

AmaTXjayhawk: I was going to say the same thing--Miss Chuck Woodling. Keegan is an offensive Fop. Can't we at least get someone who is interested in Kansas? Keegan is a bad version of Whitlock. The original there was great either.

When you characterize him as an "offensive fop", are we to assume you are using the adjective to mean "not endearing" rather than "in possession of the pigskin" ???

BTW, my opinion of Keagan varies widely, depending on the most recent column, but 2/3 of the time, I can't think of any rational way to defend him from the venom directed his way. Is LJW really such a small-market paper that they can't attract someone qualified for that position?

I think we were all eager to see Toben get healthy and impress the coaches in camp, then come out and wreck shop during the season. And while all of us have some opinion about how smart of a move this is, there's only one thing that's for certain: we have coaches that are great at evaluating talent that watched all players during the summer and spring. At the end of the day, they decided it was best to move Toben because of the talent at RB and lack of depth at LB (no doubt we need a speedy weakside LB to replace Tharp).

People here keep commenting on how we'll lose credibility with elite talent because of this. I have to disagree. Coach Gill and company are proving that they're going to do their best to get talented, athletic players on the filed (e.g., Terry and Opurum). When you're trying to grow a program, this is really what you have to do. When you're OU and have a half dozen 4 and 5-star RBs in the stable, you either move some of them to slot/WR or have them wait a year or two to see if they can get time or not.

If anything, Gill can say on the recruiting trail: "I'm recruiting you as X, but rest assured that I want you to get PT ASAP, so if I have an All-American in front of you, I'm going do all I can to get you on the field somehow." It got Kerry Meier into the League. I'm certain every KU fan appreciates that move from one position to another (albeit a more common transition).

He wasn't 2nd string. He was barely 4th behind Rell. TG said in no uncertain terms that TO was beaten in straight competition for the job. I would think this is good news, that we have 3 guys better than TO.

The article is stilted, rambling, and unclear at times. Articles go so much better when they're written in cohesive paragraphs where thoughts proceed through sentences in an orderly fashion. The article seemed as if it were being written for a telecast in Keegan's mind. When there are no videos to supplement interjections a writer should probably maintain a logical narrative that sticks to the pertinent information.

It was painful to read and I only stuck with it because I was perplexed why Opurum would be making this move (or more exactly, why Gill is making this move). I learned more of the reasoning behind the change of position from the comments (sadly), so next time I'll just skip to the comment section in order to understand what the heck is going on.

How is this making the grade and passing into press? Maybe Gill should see if Opurum can write columns too :/

Knowing the type of player-centric coach TGill is, any chance he sat down and talked with TO about his long term goals?? which may include playing in the NFL? Anyone see TO playing in the NFL at running back? Nope! TO has NFL linebacker size, speed, and agility. While he may not be ready to help the team in 9/10, Gill and Co. want him on the field and want to help him get to the next level. Perhaps I'm drinking the kool-aid, being naive, etc... but it's September and we haven't seen Gill coach yet. If you can't back your team now, might as well read Royals articles.

Here's hoping Keegan is gone before Perkins. Keegan is a perfect example of how bereft of any sense of ethical journalism his generation of reporter is. And he dares to accuse anyone else of a witch hunt...